Goods can be transported in many different ways using many different methods. Long-haul transportation in particular often employs containers which can be loaded with goods and thereafter moved by vehicles, trains, marine vessels, or airplanes to their desired destinations. While not always relying on detachable containers, short-haul goods transport similarly uses vehicles like delivery trucks/box trucks which have attached containers for storage of items and freight.
In the past, most loading or unloading of goods was performed without significant input from computerized systems. However, with the evolution of computing capabilities, the availability of sensed environmental data, and the ever-increasing focus on efficiency, today's loading and unloading procedures are monitored, supervised, and/or assisted by computing platforms that can act on information in an instance. One aspect that is of particular importance is the loading efficiency and being able to gauge how much of container space is wasted. For example, leaving large gaps between freight pieces could mean that the container is not filled to capacity. Likewise, not filling the container to the top as goods are loaded back to front also leaves valuable space vacant, creating inefficiency.
A particular problem could occur, though, when dealing with boxes and/or freight of certain dimensions and/or type like, for example, gaylord type boxes. Gaylord boxes are generally understood to be large or bulk-size boxes that are designed to carry one or more (often irregularly shaped) loads. This allows for the shipment of products in a large, single box or on a pallet. Though gaylord boxes can vary in size, they are generally relatively tall preventing the ability to effectively stack such boxes close to the ceiling of a containers. For example, if a gaylord box is 4 feet tall and less than 4 feet remains to the ceiling of a container, no additional gaylords may be stacked on top and the space above the gaylord may be wasted. In other situations, gaylord boxes may remain open, preventing the stacking of other boxes/freight thereon. Consequently, a large space above the gaylord may remain open and could affect automated container loading analytics. Similar issues could occur with other large or irregularly shaped freight/goods.
Accordingly, there exists a need for improved means of detecting and reporting container space use.
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The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.